Grandad's photos

Here's how the 1961 Orchid Special looks after the paint job. The paperwork went away today to Motorsport NZ and HRSCC for the logbook. Hopefully I can run in the Sports Car Club sprints on Easter Sunday.



Remember how it was in 1961? The colour in that old picture does not match what I found under the grey and yellow and blue layers, the new colour is much closer to how it was.



And remember how it looked when I bought it?

Still to be done in the next 2 weeks - get the Dellorto 45 side-draft carby tuned and actually working, get the handbrake actually working, bleed the brakes, get tyres and the wheels aligned and remove the shape change that the previous owner did on the front guards shape. All the other things he did have gone, including the dodgy headrest hump, the rear bumper, the illegal plastic windscreen, the trailer tail-lights. Other things replaced are all the electrical connections that had been crimped with side-cutters, non-working temperature gauge and thermostat, non-working generator and the rear brake line that ran directly to the diff without a flexible hose section. Things added that he had made inaccessible include seat-belt mounts, seat-mounts, battery mount, fire-extinguisher mount and of course the roll-bar. The battery now lives securely in the boot instead of lying loose under the passenger's feet. I have added an electrical oil pressure gauge, temperature and volts gauge. 4 nice Morris Minor tail & stop-lights are at the rear and all working.

Who would have time for work?

Here's why the blog has not been updated. The two-pot primer coat was sprayed on last week and I have been sanding and sanding and sanding. So much sanding that I have sanded off my fingerprints and it would be an ideal time to do a burglary. The red paint is scheduled for Saturday.

Here's some fun. Get a bit of A4 card, and line it up longways from your nose to the middle of these pictures. Focus in the distance and the two images should merge and you will see in 3-d.






To do this, just take a picture, then the same picture about 3 or 4 inches to the right, without the cat moving. Reduce the picture size to about 300 pixels width each, and join up the pictures into one image 600 pixels wide image. Smaller is OK but not bigger.

Our trip to UK is all booked and paid for. Here is where we will be:

Friday 14th September Air NZ NZ2 to London Heathrow via LA.
15-21 September staying a week at Magpie Cottage, Godalming, Surrey for Byfleet family history digging.
22 September 1 night at Sherwood Forest YHA
23-25 September 3 Nights at York YHA
26-28 September 3 nights at Manchester YHA
29th September Ryan Air 555 Manchester to Dublin, a week at Pinewood Lodge Glendalough, Ireland. Tickets £ 16 for 2, extras £65.76! And if you are over 15kg luggage, £ 5.50 per kg excess baggage! Ryan Air fares might sound cheap but they are not! (Multiply £ by 3 for $NZ).
6 October Aer Lingus EI 272 Dublin to Birmingham, stay 3 nights at Stratford-Upon-Avon YHA.
9-11 October 3 nights at Arundel, West Sussex YHA.
12 October dep Heathrow 9:05pm NZ 38 arr Auckland Sunday 14th 11:00 am.

The cottages in Godalming and Ireland are self-catering, most of the YHAs include breakfast in their rate, and we have 2-bed rooms with en-suites. Mostly about £40 per night. We are looking forward to meeting some old friends again as well as sight-seeing and some genealogy. We will use a small 3-door rental car £11 per day plus fuel. Russell has kindly offered his UK in-car sat-nav which is lots less stressful than a wife with an upside down map :-)